LAKEWOOD – Ken Pavlinec of Jackson remembers the sound a stray baseball made as it slammed into his 10-year-old daughter’s face on Sunday, fracturing her skull and leaving an imprint of the ball’s stitches.

Alexis had finished eating a slice of pizza in the food concourse area during a BlueClaws game at FirstEnergy Park in Lakewood when she was struck by the foul ball. It broke her nose and bones in her skull so badly that air came in contact with her brain, said her parents, Ken and Claire Pavlinec.

The parents said their daughter was later admitted to the intensive care unit at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune.

“It was all touch and go there,” said 40-year-old Ken Pavlinec. “We’re still not completely out of the woods.”

Alexis was released Monday and is recovering at her Jackson home, where her parents are monitoring her for signs of infection or spinal fluid leaking into her nose or mouth. Claire Pavlinec said her daughter may permanently lose her sense of smell.

“You can see the stitching from the ball on her nose,” the 44-year-old mother said. “She just looks like she was in a boxing ring.”

Since Alexis’ injury, her parents have a new goal — to protect other baseball spectators from similar injuries by pressuring FirstEnergy Park officials to increase netting around the field.

The couple is not alone.

Baseball injuries

Foul balls cause about 35 injuries per million visitors at Major League Baseball games, according to a 2003 study published in the journal of Prehospital and Disaster Medicine.

Chrisie Scott, 49, of Toms River said she was hit in the face by a baseball two years ago at FirstEnergy Park.

“I don’t remember much,” Scott said. “I remember a cracking sound, and a lot of blood.”

She now has scars on her face from reconstructive surgery and a mis-shapen and dilated pupil in her left eye.

“It’s like a shark eye,” she said of her dilated, black pupil.

Scott has not been to a BlueClaws game since, but did not let the injury prevent her from taking her father to a Yankees game a short time later.

“You’re just not thinking about getting hurt while you’re there,” she said.

Despite the injury, Scott said she will go back to FirstEnergy Park, and said its management provides a great family experience.

“I’ve never been mad at baseball,” she said, but hoped officials would consider expanding the protective netting.

Sheila Alena said her daughter, Kaitlyn, also was hit by a baseball at FirstEnergy Park. The girl was just 6 years old at the time, she said.

“It’s scary,” Alena, 44, of Toms River, said of her daughter’s injury, which happened four years ago. “She ended up getting a big, huge knot on her forehead.”

Pushing for change

Since Alexis was injured Sunday, the Pavlinecs have visited FirstEnergy Park to pressure officials to expand the netting around the field. The couple also has launched a Facebook page called “BlueClaws Fan Safety for Alexis” to reach out to others hurt in similar ways.

“A dead child can’t be an advocate for change, but a live child can,” Ken Pavlinec said.

“She could have been killed,” Claire Pavlinec said.

Greg Giombarrese, director of media relations for the BlueClaws, declined to comment on whether park officials would consider expanding the netting, but said the stadium warns spectators in a number of ways about the dangers of stray balls.

The stadium has signs posted about flying balls and bats, and makes announcements to spectators to be wary. On the back of BlueClaws tickets is a warning that each ticket holder “assumes all risks and danger incidental to the game or event … including … injury from thrown or batted balls, bats or other objects.”

“You really have to pay attention,” said Lisa Mick of Manchester. “It is pretty scary when you’re sitting there.”

Mick said a few years ago, she saw a baseball hit a girl in the face while at FirstEnergy Park.

Despite the risk, “I love it there. It’s a great place,” she said. “It’s great for the community.”

Mick was not sure if expanding the netting around the field was possible, but hoped the BlueClaws officials would consider the change.

“I think it would be worth looking into. It would only make a great place even greater,” she said.

Contributing: Staff Writer Steve Falk

Amanda Oglesby: 732-557-5701

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